Blessed Thanksgiving

Vintage Thanksgiving Decorations and Collectibles
By Emma Martin

Thanksgiving is an occasion everybody looks forward to. It is a special event when families reunite and friends get together for a meal representative of thankfulness for all the blessings that have come the whole year round. Comparatively, Thanksgiving does not tend to the same level of decorating as Halloween or Christmas, holidays for which decorating has become so much a part of the celebration, but there are still wonderful Thanksgiving decorations to make your home more festive. And some of my favorite decorations are Thanksgiving vintage collectibles.

Most Thanksgiving collectibles tend to revolve around the foods we eat during the season, whether used as images on paper items such as Thanksgiving postcards or decorating food serving items such as trays and dishes. Pumpkins, corn and of course, turkeys are on top of the list.

The popularity of these collectibles is prompted by historic reasons. Originally, Thanksgiving Day is an occasion to symbolize the thankfulness of early American settlers for a bountiful harvest season. Through the years, the occasion has evolved and has become more symbolic in nature. Now, people gather in Thanksgiving to express thankfulness for all the blessings and good tidings accumulated in the past year.

Because the celebration of Thanksgiving revolves around the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, items that symbolize that meal gathering have become the objects that symbolize the occasion. Among the popular collectibles are Thanksgiving mementos made of paper, fabric, and wax; such as cards, tablecloths, and candles. You would also notice that Thanksgiving collectibles are mostly display and dinner pieces, usually ceramic or porcelain. These are collectibles that serve a functional, as well as decorative purpose, especially items like dinner plates, bowls, casseroles, platters, gravy boats and salt and pepper shakers.

In the 1800s and throughout the 20th century, manufacturers have produced Thanksgiving decorations. Most of the vintage items are still very much functional today, though some collectors may prefer to keep them for display purposes only so they’ll be protected from any mishaps. I would hate to spill gravy or wine all over a vintage tablecloth.

Some other popular vintage Thanksgiving collectibles available are soap and food molds. As usual, these items are usable and can be very helpful in making food presentations during the Thanksgiving meal more appropriate, lively and decorative. Vintage candy containers are also readily available online at sites like Ebay. There are many fun turkey-shaped candy containers manufactured during the first half of the 20th century that can add to the Thanksgiving atmosphere.

If you enjoy decorating your Thanksgiving table, be sure to check out some of the vintage Thanksgiving decorations available, including some very cute Turkey Candy Containers.

Emma Martin collects vintage decor, especially Halloween and Christmas collectibles. You’ll find more great vintage holiday items at her website: http://www.retroholiday.com

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Thanksgiving Crafts to Make That Are Kid-Friendly - Indian Corn Treats
By Kelli G

These Indian corn treats are very kid-friendly Thanksgiving crafts to make. Your kids can easily turn a snack cake into a cute little Indian corn all by themselves. This project makes a really fun and edible centerpiece for the kids’ table on Thanksgiving.

To see photos of these Indian corn treats, see the link at the bottom of this article.

Supply List:

- Candy corn (two types: regular and harvest)

- Snack sized cake (Twinkie)

- Frosting

- Yellow streamers

- Plastic knife

- Scissors

Instructions:

1. The first step is to make your corn’s husk out of the streamers. This is very easy to do, just cut 3 strips of streamers. Cut each strip about 8″ long. Cut one end of each strip into a point. Now place the 3 pieces of streamers on your serving plate. Place them side by side, but fan the pointed ends out a little.

2. Take your snack sized cake and place it in the center of the streamers. Now spread an even layer of frosting over the entire cake. Any thickness is fine, but around 1/4″ would be good.

3. Next, take the two streamers on the sides of the cake and gently press them up along the sides of the cake. Now take the 3 straight-cut ends of the streamers and twist them together, making the bottom of the husk.

4. Starting down at the base of the cake where you just twisted the streamers together, begin pressing the candy corn straight down into your cake, pointed side down. Press most of each candy corn into the cake until only the end color is still showing. To make these look like Indian corn, be sure to alternate between the regular candy corn and the harvest candy corn. You only want to cover your cake with about 4 or 5 rows wide of candy corn. Continue covering your cake all the way to the other end. Some ears of Indian corn have mostly dark kernels while some have mostly lighter kernels. If you are making more than one Indian corn treat, you could make some of each.

5. After your cake is covered with candy corn, you may want to add a couple more streamer husks to your corn. Simply cut a few more streamers, still about 8″ long. To add them to your corn, simply twist the ends into the already twisted end.

That is all there is to it! We hope you find this a fun activity for your kids!

To see the photos please visit our Thanksgiving Crafts To Make: Indian Corn Treats page at http://www.holiday-crafts-and-creations.com/thanksgiving-crafts-to-make-candycorn.html. Kelli is the co-creator of http://www.holiday-crafts-and-creations.com, a site dedicated to bringing you fun holiday crafts for the whole family.

Copyright: You may republish this article as long as the text, author credit, active links and this copyright notice remain intact.

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Crepe Paper Flowers For The Fall Season
By Jane A Morris

The summer is fading fast and our flowers are too. But it doesn’t have to be that way, we can make our own pretty paper flowers so that it looks like our flower gardens are still in full bloom.

You can make fall crepe paper flowers for your home decor and it will look like flowers are still blooming everywhere. There are several fall flowers that you can make out of crepe paper. These include mums, asters, fall roses, lilies, anemones, dahlias, hydrangea, and hyacinths for a few choices. And using crepe paper makes them easier to make since it can be stretched and molded to almost any shape.

Making paper flowers is an old craft that is really starting to show up everywhere and if you make your own flowers it will give you a sense of pride in your decorations. There have been designers using them for shows and a lot of brides are starting to use them for their wedding decorations.

You may want to just decorate your home, or maybe you are having a party you could make your own decorations and fall flower centerpieces, or maybe you are getting married how about making your own flowers for your fall wedding.

You can make your beautiful flowers in any color that you prefer, but for the fall season the colors are beautiful reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and greens. These make very pretty colors when made and blended together. A bouquet using the reds, oranges, and yellows for the flowers and having different shades of greens and browns for the foliage will make a unique fall paper flower arrangement.

With Halloween just around the corner you could start making paper flowers to decorate for a Halloween party or just to decorate your home using black, orange, or gold flowers. Make a scene where you have a casket and put your black and gold colored flowers all around as in a mortuary you might even have a dummy as the dead body this will make a great accent for any party or just for the neighborhood kids.

Or how about making a paper flower costume for a Halloween costume. There are different ways to use paper flowers for Halloween if you use your imagination and crafting abilities.

How about making a fall centerpiece for the dining table you will need:

Round or oval shaped tray (size you want your centerpiece to be)

Hurricane lamp style candle holder

Crepe paper flowers and leaf garland (you may need a book with patterns and instructions if you do not have one)

Small gourds (artificial or real)

1. Place your tray on a level surface and put your candle holder in the center of it. Adding a fall colored candle in it.

2. Make your fall paper flowers and leaves with short stems to intertwine them if desired. You will need approximately 6 - 12 flowers. Add them to your tray placing them in intervals around the candle holder.

3. Place your gourds in between the flowers using different colors of them.

4. Make a paper leaf garland to fill in around the flowers and gourds. All you need for this is craft wire, brown floral tape, and brown, gold, and green crepe paper. Take a length of wire 18″ - 24″ long and wrap with the floral tape. Add the leaves that you have made out of crepe paper to the wire at about 2″ intervals then re-wrap the wire so the leaves look as if they belong to a vine.

5. You may even want to make a few larger leaves to distribute around the outside of the tray

This will make a very festive fall centerpiece for your home decor.

I know that you can come up with a lot more fun ideas for this fall season so go to it.

Jane Morris
For the most and best descriptive book on How to Make Paper flowers since the 1920’s go to: http://www.ourpaperflowers.com

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Breathe Easier During Fall’s Allergy Season
By Thomas C Long

Whereas seasonal allergies are generally viewed as a spring issue, fall allergies, affect more than 35 million Americans and many people control them with medications filled with stimulants. This season, sufferers can take control of your allergies with the natural approach using AirAide, a popular herbal supplement designed to help naturally enhance breathing capacity without the use of stimulants.

Fall allergies differ from other seasonal allergies and as a result, millions of people suffer from breathing problems, sometimes more in the fall than any other season. Plants typically pollinate in three seasons: in the spring, trees pollinate, in the summer months, grasses pollinate and finally, in late summer and into fall, weeds pollinate. One of the main contributors to fall allergies is the ragweed plant that has lightweight pollen grains that can travel up to 400 miles in the wind. Other common fall allergies include the goldenrod, curly dock, lamb’s quarters, pigweed, sheep sorrel, and sagebrush that are also lightweight and easily inhaled into the lungs.

A Natural Approach: Although most people can control their allergy symptoms, prescription inhalers and allergy medications come with their own laundry list of side effects, ranging from moderate to severe. However, hope has come in the form of AirAide, an herbal supplement that enhances breathing. AirAide works by temporarily increasing lung capacity to function at normal individual optimum levels with zero side effects. It also helps counteract the effects of many bronchial distress agents such as smog, allergens, and other environmental irritants that athletes contend with in the great outdoors. In a clinical trial, asthmatics who took AirAide showed a 30 percent increase in their expiratory rates.

The AirAide formulation has been used by holistic and homeopathic professionals for years and has shown no adverse or toxic effects at any amount. The formula contains a blend of 23 herbs designed to flush out toxins and build-up in the lungs, soothe bronchial irritations, and physically increase lung capacity to promote better breathing. As AirAide contains no steroids, caffeine, or other stimulants; it has shown no adverse side effects.

Copyright © Tom Long 2009

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A Heart of Thanksgiving
By M. Olatoks Adebayo

Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, extend to the skies, and Your faithfulness to the clouds -Psalm 36:5.

Are you willing to be stress free? Develop an attitude of praise. On the penultimate Sunday of the year, as the pastor that morning read from the book of Luke, emphasising on how God’s word to Mary and Elizabeth came to fruition; I remembered in a flash, how for many years on penultimate Sundays, I looked up into heavens with hope, believing things would turn around positively for me.

At this time I had not had a personal relationship with Jesus so, it was about hoping without having hope. The Lord knew I needed a transformation in my life and I was calling out for help, although not going about it in the appropriate way. Nevertheless, He extended His mercy to me. On the morning of the first of January nineteen eighty-three, as we were ushering in the New Year, I heard a voice say to me, ‘you cannot make it without me.’

I looked around the congregation scrutinising every face working out who might have spoken to me, but everybody seemed to be minding their own business. Then, I knew who it was. I knelt down and asked God to be the Lord of my life which has been worthwhile ever since.

Has everything been blissful? Not really, but the Lord has always been faithful. When I really wanted to give up, convincing myself I could not go any further, He stretched out His hands and hid me under the shadow of His wings. On numerous instances I have experienced His mercy and loving kindness which has blown my mind away, causing me joy and happiness giving me a heart of thanksgiving.

On this particular day, my life was rolled out in front of me as I came to realise the words of encouragement and promises from the scriptures I had received at various intervals that had been giving me hope have been fulfilled in my life. This realisation brought me to my knees. All I could do was go into His presence with thanksgiving, to bow and worship Him.

Is there anything the Lord has done for you till now you have not thanked Him for? Maybe you consider what he has done as insignificant as your focus is on the numerous things He has not done. This does tend to happen, but you could change that idea now if you determine to thank Him for even the tiniest things. Psalm 100 asks us to sing a new song to the Lord, what that means is celebrate. ‘I do not even feel like it,’ I hear you say, that is true. I did not feel like it at one point in my life too, but today I know better. At http://www.hopefortheliving.com you can read more about how your life can be transformed and get ideas about how everyday can be a Celebration Time.

This year, be determined to render praise even when you don’t feel like it for His mercy and loving-kindness has been extended to you as He is in the business of doing you good.

© Copyright 2010

I am passionate about writing to encourage, motivate and inspire just as I have been inspired, comforted and encouraged by the word of God at various instances of my life. Today, I am happy, leading what I can call a good life because of the hope the scriptures have given me. There have been various storms that have rocked the boat of my life so badly with the intent of capsizing but I have been able to keep on living; not losing hope or looking down because of the unfailing love and comfort of the Lord which has spurred me on; offering me peace and happiness. I intend to encourage and assure you it is possible to achieve your dreams as there is hope for the living.

http://www.hopefortheliving.com

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